An Author Interview with Loni Kemper Moore

Today I have the honor of hosting Loni Kemper Moore for an Author Interview! Via Celebrate Lit (Scroll down to read more about Loni’s new book & for a special giveaway too!)

So without Further ado Loni, how do you pick your characters personalities, or looks?

I usually select characters based on their personalities, but each must have at least one unique characteristic to differentiate them. The nerd in me, looks through Myers Briggs personality types to make traits consistent.

What is your favorite genre to read? What is your favorite genre to write? And why are they your favorites?

Honestly, what I read depends on my mood. I typically have 3 or 4 books (biography, historical novel, devotional and humor.) on my nightstand Kindle. Suggestions are welcome for my next read.

What inspires you the most?

Sunsets are the favorite of God’s creation and not only make me happy but give me ideas of what others could think looking at the same phenomenon 100 years ago or 100 years in the future.

Do you have a genre that you would never write? (In the Christian genre sphere i.e. speculative, historical, contemporary, etc.)

Probably Sci-fi because that’s my Husband’s favorite and I’d be intimidated. Next year I plan to attend the local SciFi convention, CoSine, which a guy I worked with started. It features a famous SciFi author, Connie Willis and according to Husbands, her sessions are filled with laughter and good ideas for authors.

What is one thing in your life that you would say has had the greatest impact on your writing?

The activity that’s had the greatest impact on my writing is traveling. After I graduated from college, I visited the Navajo Nation, meeting a person who been taken by cattle truck to a boarding school at the age of 7. That challenged me to be a teacher who changed children’s experiences. A few years later, in Germany, I sat across the table from an older person who honestly believed Hitler was misunderstood, showing me how powerful to train children well. On a work assignment in NYC, my heart broke when a Muslim man told me that losing family members in 1978 Jim Jones’ Peoples Temple disaster turned him from Christianity. A few years ago, at our son’s BSA activity in Atlanta, I viewed racism differently. Another mom and I watched our sons, hers black, mine not swimming, diving, and life-saving with no apparent awareness of race and wished we could protect them from negative experiences. Or in your life in general? Honestly, not to play “Susie Spiritual” but the Bible has influenced my life and writing more than any event or writing.

Thank you Loni for letting me interview you!
Sincerely,

Kimmie, @Travelerswife4life

About the Book

Book: Faith Lights a Flame

Author: Loni Kemper Moore

Genre: Clean Historical Fiction

Release date: April 2022

Love and Forgiveness…

Seventeen-year-old Francesca “Chessa” Campbell would give anything to have her perfect family back. Instead, her father faces a death sentence, her mother takes ill, and her heritage suddenly makes her the target of prejudice in the small 1920s New Mexico town. Then a single act irrevocably changes her life forever…and rescue comes in the unlikely form of her new teacher, Walker Smythe.

Hoping to earn enough money to finish college and forget the woman who broke his heart, Walker Smythe rides a train for three days from Indiana to the Texas Panhandle to become a cowhand. Instead, he accepts a teaching position in Clayton, New Mexico, to replace a man dismissed in disgrace. Even though Walker secretly questions his faith, friends call him straight as an arrow — and he is. At least, until he is permanently disabled and realizes the only woman who has caught his attention is one of his students.

Thrown together by fate and circumstance, Walker and Chessa must forge a life together. But will the drought hitting the American southwest and dust storms swirling across the plains rip them apart? Find out in this compelling story of faith, love, and the power of forgiveness.

Find the book on Goodreads or Amazon for more information.

About the Author

Loni Kemper Moore is a sports cheering, Diet-Pepsi sipping, Rocky Mountain adventure-seeking kind of girl. She wants to share God’s beautiful love through life’s ugliness with remarkable women around the globe.

A preacher’s kid, her wanderlust was fueled by hearing missionary stories. She’s visited a dozen countries learning from other cultures while experiencing a sort of “minority” feeling. Although she attended several schools as a minority and her DNA test returned a percentage African, she’d never presume to claim such status.

She completed a bachelor’s degrees in Education and Biblical Studies at the former Denver Baptist Bible College and graduate work in Education at the University of Evansville.

A Jesus following history nerd, she was named Leonnie Sue for dead people. Leonnie was her great-grandmother whose died in the Influenza pandemic, and Sue is a common name on the family tree, dating to the 1640’s when Susanna Dean stepped off a ship in Korea, Maine.

Her writing came alive when the crazy Covid time forced her to flip through diaries and family albums. She was specifically struck by a memory of visiting her grandmother during the 1995 O.J. Simpson trial, shocked to hear her say, “He’s innocent!” What followed was a tale of her as a 14-year-old testifying in her father’s murder trial. As Loni put the story on a computer, her imagination expanded to become Faith Lights a Flame.

When she’s not writing, she’s a technical support engineer for a product called Cherwell, named for the river near Oxford which T.R.R. Tolkein and C.S. Lewis walked. During a trip to the company office in Swindon, UK, she visited the Child and the Eagle Pub where Tolkien and Lewis’ writers group met.

She’s also mom to Adam. a mechanical engineering student; traveler with dear “Hugsband” Robert an embedded engineer; thrilled by her GrandMiracles, Naomie, Zemira and their parents Becca and Anthony.

Loni’s experiences of loving history, learning to trust God through tragedy, and being the granddaughter of ranchers put this story close to her heart. Her grandparents’ love for God and each other helped them survive the Dust Bowl and provide guiding examples for life.

More from Loni

Why I Wrote “Faith Lights a Flame”

I visited Grandma James’ retirement apartment. A news channel distracted us and blared the familiar report of a retired football player’s homicide trial of his ex-wife and friend.

“O. J. Simpson is innocent!” My petite grandmother settled on her couch with ankles crossed.

My jaw dropped. “What? I’ve heard many people talk about him, but you are one of the few I’ve heard say he’s not guilty.”

An hour later her tale of being forced as a fourteen-year-old to testify in her father’s murder trial in 1920’s New Mexico, shifted the way I viewed her. Dreams, laughs and tears filled me with admiration and desire to be like her.

But twenty-four years later, when my brother-in-law, Ray returned from China, an alarming disease, COVID Flu, invaded my awareness. For Christmas he gave us hand-sanitizer, boxes of K-95 masks, and advice to purchase more Vitamin D and an oxygen concentrator.

COVID rumors and Ray’s comments frustrated me as much as the story I hadn’t finished. I pushed aside those thoughts to reminisce, surrounded by binders, diaries and books penned by family members. Good times outweighed the bad.

My Covid fears diminished in light of additional stories of those who maintained strength through the deadly Spanish Flu Pandemic, a hostile Dust Bowl, the devastating Depression, and unbelievable heartbreaks.

I pictured reunions where older ladies and cowboy-hat-wearing men covered tables with their arduous work just like troubles of youth were covered with laughter. How did they do that? Could I use their skills to survive the Covid pandemic?

Having lost dear relatives and friends, I know that COVID was costly indeed, but writing stimulated my faith through those uncertain times. I envisioned book of love and survival which became Faith Lights a Flame loosely based on the saga told by my grandmother.

My prayer is your faith will burn like a flame as we travel along on a fictional journey through decades of beloved memories. Please let me know what you think.

“Faith does not quench desire, it enflames it.” Thomas Aquinas

–Loni Kemper Moore